Nightmare
by btamamura
Summary: One night, Danger Mouse has a very frightening nightmare; one concerning his best friend. Whatever it was, it was more than enough to shake up the world's greatest secret agent. Inspired by a prompt from the Tumblog otpprompts. No slash, just brotherly love and angsty friendship fluff. Contains character death, rated to be safe.


**Disclaimer:** _I do not own Danger Mouse or any of the characters featured within. They are the property of Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall._

 **Notes:** _**I saw a prompt on the Tumblog**_ _otpprompts **that I shall describe in the after-notes to avoid spoiling too much about this. I can say that t**_ _ **he way it was phrased, it just felt perfect for Danger Mouse and Penfold. This is set during the 1980s series.**_

 _ **There is no slash, it's friendship and brotherly love. The nightmare contains death though, so I will warn about that. I also warn that Danger Mouse especially may seem a bit out of character in this piece. But, the prompt demanded it, and it's not like he doesn't get emotional (he was fighting back tears just as much as Penfold when they were tricked into thinking they were fired and had to move out of their flat, and then there was a**_ _Secret Agent's Secrets_ _ **segment that had him start sobbing because Penfold's clowning around ruined the film), especially with the contents of his nightmare.**_

 _ **I hope you enjoy this!**_

 _ **(Linebreaks hate me, so they will be replaced by**_ _DMEP_ _ **)**_

DMEP

 _London. Home of Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and Westminster Abbey. Home too of that miniscule hero, the White Wonder: Danger Mouse, the world's greatest secret agent, and his more miniscule but less-heroic assistant, Penfold. It's nighttime, and all residents of London are asleep, including the residents of the pillar-box on Baker Street._

"Penfold!"

 _Okay, maybe not all._

Danger Mouse sat up in his bed, he was panting and sweating. His right eye was open and scanning his surroundings best as it could in pitch-black darkness. He reached over and switched on his lamp before rubbing his forehead, mindful of the strap for his eyepatch. He started to calm down as his mind registered both he and Penfold were safe at home. Or at least, he was. But, what of Penfold? He was home when they both went to bed, but what if someone snuck in while they slept?

He sighed quietly as _what-ifs_ started filling his mind. "Look, I just have to check on him and see that he is still there. That's all." He pushed his blankets back, slid out of his bed and slipped on his slippers. He found his nightrobe and threw it on, tying the sash around his waist as he stepped out of his bedroom.

DMEP

As he made his way down the hallway from his room to the small flight of steps, the nightmare replayed in his mind, piece by piece.

 _ **"Surrender now, White Blunder, or your little assistant here will pay the price!"**_

He tried shaking his head to dispel the thoughts.

 _ **"You fiend!" He stood there, facing off against Baron Silas Greenback, a wicked toad bent on world domination.**_

 _Good grief! Stop thinking about it!_

 _ **"So, you refuse to surrender? Hehehe...that's perfect then. Stiletto, prepare to fire!"**_

His steps started changing pace to something a bit quicker. He made his way down the steps and passed in front of the telecommunications system. He made his way up the other set of steps the other side of the large screen.

 _ **"Say**_ _arrivederci_ _ **, little pest!" Stiletto cackled as he took aim and pulled the trigger.**_

Faster. Faster still, he had to hurry to Penfold's room. All common sense told him he was being silly, but he had to make absolutely certain Penfold was alright.

 _ **"Chief!" Penfold let out a cry to the mouse before the bullet pierced his chest. He fell to the floor.**_

 _ **"Penfold, no!" He hurried to the hamster's side. He placed his paw over the wound. "Penfold! Come on, man, speak to me!"**_

 _ **The hamster was fading fast. "D-don't worry, DM. I know you couldn't s-surrender..."**_

 _ **"Shh, save your strength..." He could hear Greenback, Stiletto and Nero making their escape while he was distracted. He didn't care, he had to save Penfold somehow!**_

 _ **"I-I need to tell you s-something... I d-don't blame you for th-this." He smiled sadly. "Y-you deserve a better assistant a-anyway...one that i-isn't a t-total c-coward..."**_

 _ **"That's not true, Penfold. You may be a coward, but you are also a gosh-darned fantastic assistant. You're my best friend, nobody could ever replace you!" He could feel tears forming in his good eye. "Come on, you can make it, I know you can..."**_

 _ **"N-no, my time is u-up..." His eyes started to fall closed, though he tried to fight it. He raised a paw and felt his boss take it firmly. "Y-you're my best friend too, DM. I'll m-miss...you..."**_

 _ **Danger Mouse felt the hamster go limp before he saw it. "No...no, Penfold...come on, wake up..." He didn't move either paw, not even to wipe away the tears in his eye. "I'll...I'll buy you as many sweeties as you want if you'll just open your eyes. You don't have to do anything else, just...open your eyes...please..." He knew his pleas were for naught. He moved his paw away from the wound, placing the back of his blood-soaked paw to his best friend's cheek. "Penfold..." He collapsed against him and sobbed, his cheek pressed to his friend's, his paw still grasping that of the hamster.**_

DMEP

He finally arrived at Penfold's bedroom door. He knocked a few times, aware his vision was suddenly much more blurry. "Penfold?" He could hear shuffling in the room and knew it meant someone was in there.

The door opened. There stood a half-asleep Penfold, his teddy bear in his grasp. He reached a paw under his glasses and rubbed at an eye. "DM?"

He couldn't stop himself. He fell to his knees, pulled the hamster into a tight hug and whispered _thank goodness_ repeatedly.

The hamster was suddenly more awake than he had been a few seconds ago. Such behaviour from his boss, his best friend, was rather absurd. No, he knew Danger Mouse wasn't always stoic, even if he tried to keep his emotions more reserved the majority of the time. Of course, even the most stiff upper-lip could be moved. "DM? Chief, what's the matter?"

He pulled back enough to be able to look at Penfold. He could see those tiny eyes behind those large lenses. He smiled gently at seeing his nightmare really was just that.

Penfold had noticed something else. "Why are you crying, Chief? Did something happen?"

"Just a nightmare, Penfold."

The smaller rodent thought for a second. "Do you want to talk about it? You did once tell me that sharing a nightmare will help it go away."

"You're right about that." He took a deep breath and explained everything. "We were on yet another mission with hopes of apprehending Greenback and Stiletto. But, this time they were more than ready for us. They didn't set traps in their base, they instead waited for us to present ourselves before them."

"The rotters!"

"We finally made it, and I was ready to finally capture Greenback. He demanded I surrender, or you would be the one to pay the price." He took in a shaky breath, the tears starting to pour down his cheek, just as they had in his nightmare. "I refused to surrender, I thought he was bluffing. But then, he had Stiletto fire a weapon at you. It got you right in the chest. I tried staunching the bloodflow while they made their escape." He sniffed. "But...but, i-it was for naught. Y-you died."

He finally understood why Danger Mouse was so distraught. He was always the exact same way whenever he had a nightmare of a mission gone wrong, resulting in tragedy. He dropped his teddy bear, stepped forward and embraced the mouse tightly. He felt it being returned with a firmer grip. "I'm still here, DM. Greenback and Stiletto haven't done me in. They never will! You are the world's greatest secret agent, you would never allow them even the slightest chance of doing anything to harm me."

"Penfold..." He sniffed again. He smiled slightly. "Thank you."

DMEP

After a minute in that firm embrace, they both pulled back slightly. Danger Mouse wiped away the remains of his tears, then he cleared his throat. "Ahem, I feel I should apologise for losing my composure there, Penfold."

"It's alright, Chief. It happens to all of us once in a while." He picked up his teddy bear again.

"Although now I fear I may not get any peaceful rest. That nightmare still has me a bit shaken up."

Penfold nodded. He looked back to his bed. "Then, how about you sleep with me tonight?"

"Hm? Come again?"

"Being with me might at least help you get some peace. We both need to rest well."

"This is an interesting turn of events, wouldn't you say?" He smiled and nodded. "Very well." He followed the tiny hamster into the bedroom, closing the door after himself.

DMEP

The bed was a good size, though still a bit of a cozy fit. Because of that, Penfold was cuddled against Danger Mouse's chest. The White Wonder gave his best friend a gentle kiss atop his head, still a bit emotional from that frightening nightmare he prayed never became reality. "Rest well, Penfold."

"You too, DM. Good night."

"Good night."

"Sleep tight."

"You too."

"No more nightmares."

"There won't be."

"Don't let the bedbugs bite."

"Penfold..."

"Yes, Chief?"

"Shush."

"Oh, 'eck..."

DMEP

 _And so wraps up yet another tale of our heroes, though this seemed to be more emotion-driven than the usual drivel I have to announce. Even so, where is the humour? I believe this series is meant to have more humour than something like this. *phone ringing* Oh, hold on. Hello? Ah, yes. Yes, sir. Yes, I was just about to wrap it up, no worries, sir. *phone replaced on cradle* Ahem! As they settle down for a good night's sleep, one can only wonder what lies ahead for them in the next amazing adventure of...Danger Mouse!_

DMEP

 **After-notes:** _**Good grief! That was far more emotional than I had planned! I am sorry for the feels I may have caused you all! Like I said though, this was all brotherly love and friendship fluff, even if pretty angsty. The prompt called for angst, and what would affect DM more than Penfold being killed during a mission? (Well, aside from the world losing faith in him as the greatest secret agent, but the nightmare had to concern the other half of the pair.)**_

 _ **The prompt was** Imagine that Person A isn't normally the emotional type. One night, however, they show up at Person B's place, eyes red from crying. Turns out they had a vivid nightmare about Person B dying, and they wanted to make sure their friend/crush/datefriend/whatever was okay. Person B is touched by this rare display of emotion from A, and they let A stay with them for the night **.**_

 _ **Thank you for reading. You don't have to leave a review, but if you decide to, it would be most appreciated if you did not leave any flames. Constructive criticism is alright. Thank you again. See you!**_


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